I awoke this morning from what felt like a deeper sleep than usual.
I logged onto naver.com and checked the weather forecast. I like that I’ve become a regular consumer of certain Korean websites – it helps my feeling of confidence about the language. The current weather in Yeonggwang: 소낙눈 [snow showers]. I guess there’s no larger point to this observation. It’s only a snapshot of my life, I guess.
I’ve felt really tired, lately. Nevertheless, I’m thinking of trying to run up to Seoul over the weekend. In two weeks, I’ll be nearing the beginning of my 2 week long “winter vacation” – I’m planning to go to Australia to visit my mother.
I had a really excellent class with my third graders, yesterday. Not because of any clever lesson plan, but because I felt like I really had the classroom-management issue under control. I had the kids working on their projects – we’re building model schools out of cardboard and paper – and then I transitioned to some work in the textbook we have, and then we transitioned to a game. The class wasn’t perfectly behaved – there was a moment when some of them were making “snow” out of styrofoam, by shredding it using scissors, and two of the boys were playing at “cows” (one of them gets on the floor and the other rides around on him – and yes, it’s my fault they call this game “cows”). But that’s the point. Although there were these incidents, they were under control for the most part. They stopped working on their projects, picked up the trash and glue and scissors and crayons, and sat at their desks, all under my sole supervision. It’s enough to make one feel like a “real teacher.”